Here’s a roundup of some cool conservation pieces from the last month or so:
News: Australian Bushfires
The fires in Australia remained an important topic as the new year began. This article summarises a report that asked to what extent the fires had covered the ranges of vulnerable species. Worryingly, they found that almost fifty endangered species have had 80% of their range affected, with many more species affected to a lesser extent. This will likely increase the pressure on the Australian government to reform their climate and biodiversity policies.
Video: Celebrating Conservation Success
This week, the BBC’s Witness History series features conservation scientist Dr. Corneille Ewango. In 2005, Dr Ewango won the Goldman Environmental Prize. Watch below:
Paper: Conserving the Holobiont
This recent article advocates conserving the genetic diversity of not only individual plants and animals, but also “at the level of the community of organisms comprising that individual“.
The authors point out that a modified modern microbiome in humans most likely caused an increase in certain diseases and that we should therefore be worried about changes that we induce in other species. These changes can come from human process like habitat fragmentation and homogenisation, introduction of invasive species and climate change.
They also identify key areas where consideration of an organism’s microbiota might be particularly important for conservation – such as translocations.
The authors argue that understanding a species’ microbiome will aid its conservation. However, with very limited resources, it will be interesting to see how much effort can really be directed towards this.